It is known to provide such type of hinges in which these movement guide means comprise an arm, usually cam-shaped, which is constrained as a rocker arm to one of said hinge supports, such that the one end thereof defines the sliding movement of a moving element relative to the support to which it is constrained, and the other end of the arm, suitably shaped, is instead engaged with an abutment, or follower, which is preferably an idle wheel, mounted to the other hinge support. The movement of said moving element, preferably being a slider, can be hindered, in a sliding and/or rotation direction thereof, by elastic means that are interposed between the moving element and the hinge support relative to which this moving element is moving.
In the case of a door pivoting about a horizontal axis, these elastic means can be arranged such as to balance, at least partially, the weight of the door during the rotation thereof, both in the direction opposing to the gravity force, and in the opposite direction.
For example, the European Patent Application EP-A-0 872 692, in the name of the same Applicant, describes a similar door hinge for compartments of furniture pieces, and particularly for oven compartments, in which a first hinge support being fixed to the compartment structure is rotatably constrained to a second hinge support being fixed to the door, and comprises an idle wheel acting as the follower for a cam-shaped arm, which is, in turn, hinged to said second hinge support in a point away from the hinge point of the two supports. The rotation of the cam relative to the second support, which rotation occurs upon opening/closing the door, also defines the sliding of a moving element, or slider, which is suitably constrained to an end of the cam, relative to the second hinge support. The movement of this slider relative to the latter is further hindered, in a forward direction thereof, by a spring being interposed between the second support and the slider, and it is facilitated by the spring in the opposite direction. This spring, more particularly, counteracts the opening of the door relative to the oven compartment and facilitates closing the latter.
A similar hinge for oven doors is described in the European Patent Application EP-A-0 738 817, also in the name of the Applicant, wherein the first hinge support is rotatably constrained to the second hinge support by interposing a suitably shaped spacer.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,123,064, in the name of HARTSON, relates to a hinge of the above-discussed type, wherein the cam follower consists of an idle wheel that is directly mounted to the oven structure and thus only functionally connected to that support of the hinge constrained to the oven structure. Furthermore, one of the ends of the cam of the HARTSON hinge, which is hinged to the hinge support that is fixed to the oven door, is said moving element relative to this support. The cam end is also constrained to a spring extending between this end and a suitable point of the support fixed to the door.
These prior art hinges, though allowing a quite accurate adjustment of the movement of the door relative to the compartment, do not prevent the possible impacts of the door against the compartment structure, when the door reaches one of the end-of-travel positions thereof, particularly the compartment closure end-of-travel position.
For example, when the spring is configured to counteract the opening of the door, preferably by collapsing from the zero (rest) position thereof, when the door is being closed by the user, the thrust given by the spring extending onto the respective moving element of the hinge can impress a considerable speed to the rotation of the door relative to the compartment, thus consequently causing the door to impact against the compartment structure when closing.
To overcome this drawback, it is also known to make hinges for doors covering compartments of furniture items, and particularly ovens, wherein the relative rotation of the two supports of the hinge is adjusted only by interposing a fluidic damper between the supports, without said movement guide means being provided.
For example, the European Patent Application EP-A-0 422 565, in the name of BOSCH SIEMENS, describes a hinge for an oven door in which one or more dampers act such as to hinder opening the door.
It is also known to make a hinge for compartments of furniture items, and particularly a hinge for ovens, of the type being provided with movement guide means comprising a cam and a respective follower, in which an element moving relative to one of the hinge supports is constrained to said cam-follower guide means and is also constrained to a fluidically operated damper, of the type with cylinder and piston, which is arranged such as to counteract one of the moving directions of this moving element.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,789,293, in the name of HABEGGER, teaches to use, on both sides of an oven door, first and second hinges of the type provided with cam-follower guide means, in which the first hinge comprises a spring counteracting the opening movement of the door relative to the oven compartment and in which the second hinge comprises a damper counteracting the closing movement of the door, by increasing the resistance against the movement. In this patent, the damper used is a so-called pneumatic or hydraulic spring, i.e. a cylinder in which the piston, when it is induced to move in at least one given direction of its travel, compresses the fluid sealingly stored within the respective cylinder, and in which this piston is, when the force causing the latter to move in the fluid-compression direction stops, forced to move back to the starting position by the same fluid that had been previously compressed.
Such a damper, though being effective in preventing impacts from occurring when the oven door is being closed, necessarily requires using a spring, suitably configured and calibrated, to steadily hold the piston in the end-of-travel position thereof, in which the fluid is compressed. Furthermore, this type of damper makes the resistance offered to the movement of the piston higher and higher, in the fluid-compression direction, as this piston reaches the expected end-of-travel position thereof, thus making operating the oven door for closing uncomfortable and unnatural to the user.
An object of the present invention is to provide a hinge for compartments of furniture items, and particularly ovens, which does not suffer from the above-cited drawbacks of the prior art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a hinge for compartment doors, preferably of the type provided with movement guide means, for example with cam and follower, which are connected to at least one damper, which results both simple to make and user-friendly.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a hinge for oven doors, preferably of the type being provided with cam-follower means, in order to adjust the movement of the door, which prevents impacts from occurring against the oven structure when the door is being opened or closed while not requiring unusual efforts to the user in order to be used.